Wishes...

Cassandra Barnes at Through A Window Brightly, proposes an interesting question. If you could make a wish come true, what would it be? Her idea peeked when over hearing a conversation between two women who revealed that great quantities of money would be theirs'. I had that wish once, until it came true.

My wish of great wealth was to find thrown away money alongside the highway, or stuffed under a mound of sand somewhere in the desert. Of course my justification for keeping the loot, would be that it was dirty money (found by me), meant for the unthinkable; let's say for the purchase of drugs, or life savings demanded by human smugglers. If found (by me), filthy money would suddenly transform itself into goodness and love: I would share by sending great quantities to various charities. I would gift to family, and of course, my husband and I would enjoy frequent luxury vacations during custom renovations to our seasonal homes.

As it happened, one day during a ride through the desert, my husband waved me over to where he had parked his ATV. I approached slowly as he was signaling me like an approaching airliner to its dock. "What's the deal?" I asked. Then I saw the gleaming white plastic coated potato sack. It sent chills up my spine. Not good chills; violent dark murdering chills. There we were on a lonely road, next to the All American Canal. We were in complete isolation staring at large meticulously placed bags, of which its contents was obvious.

With further investigation of shape, weight and number of packages, and with a tree branch placed strategically atop the bags fold, the evidence could not be ignored. A careful line of dusted footprints trying to be concealed, led away to a mesquite tree, where perhaps the deliverers of said contents waited.

We knew it; we were looking at perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars in money, drugs, or perhaps, both. Our whispered discussion was not about how my wishes had just come true, but rather about how to leave and not draw attention to ourselves. No doubt, the unscrupulous could be watching for a 'pick up' of the soon to be evil fortune. We decided to play dumb, and attempt our departure as if we were discussing the beauty of the canal as we slowly launched away on our ATVs. Once out of the desert and into population, we reported our find. There guess was, that we called it as it was.

Now I know what "Be careful what you wish for" means.